


Speech of the Demon

by Canadian_BuckBeaver



Category: Underfell - Fandom, Undertale (Video Game), underswap
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Anger, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Death Threats, Fontcest, Frans - Freeform, Gen, Loss of Trust, M/M, Mentions of resets, Monster Dust (Undertale), No Smut, Papyrus Has Issues, Protective Papyrus, Spoilers - Undertale Genocide Route, Threats of Violence, Underfell, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans, Undertale Genocide Route, Violence, honeymustard - Freeform, underswap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-01-05 15:11:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12192336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadian_BuckBeaver/pseuds/Canadian_BuckBeaver
Summary: Stretch has randomly appeared in Underfell, looking empty and broken.  His soul is cracked and dim, and he himself is near death.  As Red speaks to him he discovers that there is only one that can be blamed for his condition.The seventh soul of Underswap, the so-called angel of death herself.  Frisk.*My first commission! Oh! So excited!  Thank you for commissioning me RedKammy!If you are interested in commissioning me for a dabble or short, buy me a coffee!





	1. Red - the Set Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Indulgenceahoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indulgenceahoy/gifts).



“SANS!” 

At the sound of his older brother’s rough shout, Red jumped in fright, banging his already cracked skull on the machine that he had been underneath and tinkering with.He cursed, rubbing the stars from his vision.It was hard enough trying to get any sort of work done on the damn thing.Between his regular working hours at his few jobs, his few hours that he spent at Grillby’s, and the time that he spent with his brother, it seemed that whenever he started to make any headway with his machine the kid reset, sending him right back to square one.

“Yeah Boss?” he snapped back, not bothering to hide his irritation.He had specifically asked his brother not to bother him today.He had done his sentry shift, without falling asleep on duty, and had even avoided going to Grillby’s for his usual mustard and his greasy food pick me up.Instead, Red had asked for this one favour, ONE FUCKING FAVOUR, and his brother couldn’t even respect it enough to follow through on his part of the deal.

“GET UP HERE.YOUR FRIEND IS HERE.” was the response before the steps retreated from the edge of the stairs.

Friend?That was a very strong word coming from Papyrus… In UnderFell, it was kill or be killed, and any sort of alliances were made to be broken or were simply made to be taken advantage of.Used for the other’s own advantage, never your “friend’s”.Simply put, it was hell.Red finally began to climb up the basement steps where he could see Papyrus, standing outside the doorway. Of course he had to be so Goddamn dramatic about everything too.He was perfect, made for this deadly world.He was standing in front of the dim light of the hallway, his complete set of armour clipped smartly on, his red eye lights, glowing brightly in the dim light, causing a long, intimidating shadow to be cast over Red…

‘How bloody typical…’ Red growled to himself, noticing the poetic feel to the sight.Always in the older brother’s shadow.

“IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH TO MOVE YOUR SORRY ASS.” Papyrus snapped, his eyes looking him over, taking in the oil and grease smears of the machine.“AND YOU’RE STILL COATED IN THAT FUCKING GREASE!”

“I came as soon as you fucking called me to.” Red growled, his red eyes flickering slightly in his anger, glaring up at his brother.“And that includes not stopping for a goddamn pit stop.” 

Papyrus just rolled his eyes, having grown immune to Red’s little snips and digs over the years.“GRAB A CLOTH FROM THE BATHROOM AND AT LEAST RUB YOUR SKULL AND CHANGE OUT OF YOUR JACKET.I WON’T HAVE YOU TRACKING THAT SHIT ALL THROUGH MY CLEAN HOUSE.” He turned on his heel and left Red muttering angrily to himself.Red turned in direction of the bathroom when he spoke again.

“STRETCH IS IN THE LIVING ROOM, ON THE COUCH.HE IS UPSET AND ASKED TO SPEAK TO YOU IMMEDIATELY.I SUGGEST YOU HURRY…” 

Red blinked at this.Stretch?Stretch was here?Stretch as in the Papyrus from the UnderSwap Universe, judge, jokester and lover of puns and honey?

Stretch, as in the other monster that was able to recall and remember the resets?

“What is he doing here?You told him never to visit, remember?That both he and his brother were too weak to survive in a place like this…” Red whispered quietly, eyeing his brother with some distrust, wondering exactly what had happened between the two of them this time.It was unlike him to help out any monster, especially Stretch.

There was no love lost between the two Papyruses. The sparks flying between them were not love or friendship, but anger and distrust.The both of them had conflicting views on just about everything.From their thoughts on violence, opinions on puzzles, to cooking and food to drinks, and even differing opinions on the fellow monsters of their own universes.Fell, Red’s older brother, commonly compared Stretch to Red. He spoke of how useless the two of them were, a bunch of lazy, weak-minded, good for nothing drunks.While Red knew that Fell had used this to try and motivate him to do better at his jobs and magic, Stretch saw it simply as abuse.There had been many fights that both he and Blue had to break up to protect the house and others.

The last fight in particular had been nasty.Stretch had been pushed to enter his Judge mode, summoning his deadly Gaster Blasters and his complex patterns of bone attacks, trying to trip Fell with the quickly flashing and moving, occasionally alternated with the blue stop bones.Fell, finally seeing that the hoodied skeleton was no longer holding back and was actually a strong and very capable fighter, he too began to attack his doppelganger with all the power and magic that he could muster. As a LV 18 monster, that was more than enough capability to dust the other monster.Red and Blue had watched in some sick fascination as the two skeletons traded blows back and forth.For a 1 HP monster, Stretch could be reckless, throwing himself into any opening, even if it was a trap.When it had finally ended Stretch had grabbed onto Blue and pulled him through the portal, all while Fell was screaming at him from the portal’s edge.Warning him never to come back or suffer the dire consequences…

Red hadn’t seen him or Blue since.

Back in the present time, Fell had seemed to ignore Red’s question.So Red asked him again, not letting him get away without answering him. “Papyrus… what happened?”

The taller skeleton wrung his fingers together awkwardly, as if debating on what to say before he finally bent to whisper in Red’s ear.“I FOUND HIM OUT BY MY PUZZLE TRAPS, CRYING AND TALKING INCOHERENTLY TO HIMSELF.I COULDN’T LEAVE HIM OUT THERE, HE WAS EASY EXP FOR ANYONE THAT TRIED.I BROUGHT HIM HERE AND HE IMMEDIATELY ASKED FOR YOU.” Fell went to walk by him, obviously aiming for the door.Probably heading to Undyne’s for a cooking lesson…

Or was it an escape away from Stretch?

“There’s more…. isn’t there?” Red asked him as Fell fingered the doorknob, prepared to pull it open.

Fell froze, turning towards him again.He looked Red over before he finally nodded.“HIS SOUL IS CRACKED ALMOST IN HALF…. HE WON’T TELL ME HOW OR WHY BUT… BUT YOU’LL NEED TO SEE FOR YOURSELF.I CAN’T…” Fell shook his head, opened the door and rushed out, locking the multiple locks behind him as he left.Red stared at the empty door. A soul almost completely cracked in half, that was pretty much a death sentence to any monster.The vital organ produced their magic, metabolized their food and heat, helped pump the Determination through their bodies.If Fell had given up on Stretch, considering him dead but had brought him to their house, it was only as an act of mercy.A place where he could die comfortably… or was it so he could take Stretch’s EXP for himself?But then why would he leave?This was becoming more and more of a mess….

A few, short minutes later Red was walking towards the living room.Having taken his older brother’s advice he had washed the majority of the grease and dirt from his bones, and even changed his jacket, tossing it into the wash.Instead, he had on a red pullover, one almost identical to Stretch’s, the one Red barely wore.Perhaps seeing them dressed as twins would help cheer Stretch up?He was into weird jokes or quirks like that…

Red finally saw Stretch.Fell, like his usual self, wasn’t kidding. Stretch really looked like a mess, more than half dead looking.His orange pullover and his sweat pants were both covered in mud and snow, and were also torn in several places.It was like Stretch had tried to fight his way through the forest before making his way here.For once, the skeleton wasn’t smoking, though he still reeked of his signature cigarettes.His sockets were unfocused, and several orange tears continued to leak out of them.Drip, drip, drip…

Stretch had never looked this terrible, this cold…

This empty or lost.

“Stretch?” he asked quietly.Those empty orange eyes found him.There was no spark of life or magic in those orange irises.Just pain, sorrow and empty…

A face that he had seen on himself one too many times.

“Stretch?Is Blue…?” he tried to ask, his voice cracking in the middle.How does one ask if their friend’s brother is dead?UnderFell did not teach him that proper etiquette.

Stretch, to Red’s relief, shook his skull.“no….” he whispered.Red felt his soul lighten for a split second before plummeting again.“worse.” 

“Worse?What is worse than death?” Red asked.

There was no emotion to Stretch’s voice.“Frisk.” He said simply, his eye lights blinking out as orange tears began to stream down his face again.


	2. Red/Stretch - Poor Stretch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk has returned to Underswap and, though she has not yet caused the death of Berry, she seems to be setting something up for the monsters of Underswap.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: Stretch implies that Frisk should execute herself, in order to reset the timeline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geeze, could it have taken me any longer to update?

Red felt is socket’s dim slightly.  Frisk… A name that could bring either joy or hell to any monster.  While Frisk was the friend of all monsters in both his universe and UnderTale, in Swap she was the demon, the destroyer…

The seventh soul that was destined to empty the Underground.  The angel of death.

If she has appeared… his pupils instinctively glanced down at Stretch’s vertebrae and at his hands before breathing a small sigh of relief.  No blue bandanna.  So Blue, at least for the moment, was still alive.  That was good news… for now.

Red grabbed hold of Stretch’s shoulders and shook him gently.  “Ok.  Snap out of it.  Blue isn’t gone, and I’m not a fucking mind reader after all.”  He gently wiped the tears from Stretch’s cheeks, repeating the motion that he had seen Stretch use many times with Blue.  Some sort of brotherly thing he supposed.  He had last done it to Boss as a baby bones.  Just another difference between the worlds of Swap and Fell.  “From the top and tell me everything… what happened?” he asked.

Stretch’s irises focused on him, registering him as if for the first time before they returned to that dull, almost lifeless look.  They looked like dusty oranges, lifeless spheres.  “Frisk…” he sighed.  “It was a couple days ago.  Frisk fell to the Underground.  I was watching out for her or Chara as per normal, at my sentry station.  When she walked out of the Ruins, there was the look and smell of dust covered them.  Their clothes were completely grey… they killed Asgore and all the creatures in the ruins… again.” he sighed.  It was so much unnecessary death.  Where Chara was more than happy to make friends with almost every monster (she always had some difficulty with Captain Alphys), Frisk seemed to take delight in slaughtering them all.  What would it take to sate the devil herself?  Not even the total genocide of UnderSwap kept her happy for long.

Red could only nod encouragingly to him.  If he spoke now, he might scare off any words that Stretch dared say.  Better to keep quiet and listen first…  But seeing the beginning of a true genocide run… no matter Stretch was behaving such a way. 

“But this wasn’t like any of the other genocide runs.  She killed Asgore, the countless monsters in the ruins, the dogs and all of the monsters that were beside Blue’s puzzles.  But she became friends with Blue.” Stretch rubbed his cheek.  “She cooked tacos with him, watched NTT, helped him with his word search… she was exactly like Chara of the pacifist route…”

“She’s trying to put his guard down.  Probably has something ‘extra special’ planned, just for him.”  Red immediately said, clenching his teeth.  Blue held a special place in both he and his brother’s souls.  Just the thought of a genocide run involving the sweet monster, it was almost enough for him to enter his own judge mode.

“That’s what I first thought too.” Stretch sighed.  “I always watched them, somewhere not too far away from where I could teleport in at a moment’s notice.  Yet, she did nothing.  Nothing to Blue.  If she was alone and ran into another monster she killed them.”  He sighed.  “This was against everything that I thought I knew about them.  I’ve never known her to toy with her prey before.”

Red nodded, thinking to his own.  No, his Chara had never done anything of the sort.  She had come in, annihilated everyone, and then left and reset for the next round.  “So then what happened?” he asked. 

“They had just killed Alphys…. I… I couldn’t stop it in time.  When I walked around the corner she was already melting.  It was… it was horrid….” He shuddered.  “I had seen her die before, this isn’t anything new to me but… they, the kid, had this sick, twisted face on them.  Empty, bleeding eyes, and a dark jagged mouth.  That’s perhaps when I realized just how sick, how twisted, how… deranged the child actually is.  Who can get pleasure off of killing someone?” he asked out loud, his body shaking.

This perhaps wasn’t a good time to mention which universe he was in.  Though Fells tended to kill to survive or for power, for fun was also an option.

“I… I lost it.  I just can’t take it.  The constant cycle of resets and death and Surface and…” he was hyperventilating again, probably thinking of a lost blue bandana.  “I came up to them.  They were kicking Alphys’ dust this way and that, probably trying to hide the evidence of their crime.  They weren’t surprised to see me…”

*

He shuddered, watching Frisk kick Alphys’ dust around, spreading it so it could be carried by the wind easier.  Already Alphys was being blown away, like she never existed.  Like it didn’t matter, like she didn’t matter.  How many times had he watched everyone die?  How many times was he going to let this happen?  He was supposed to be judge and guardian of UnderSwap, yet, here he was.  Watching his friends be murdered and picked off.  One by one.  If anything, he was the true monster here.  “FRISK.” He yelled, coming over to her.  He no longer cared about the consequences or the quality of her little ‘game’.  His friends… they deserved better than him.

To the demon’s credit, she didn’t even look fazed.  Like she had known that he had been there the whole time, like she was expecting him.  She looked up at them, those closed eyes seeming to see everything and all.  He tried to hide a shiver.  No matter how many times he had seen those cursed eyes, they always reminded him of a snake’s.  “I’ve been expecting you to show up,” Frisk said, their eyes fading to dim.  The demon’s characteristics were gone.  All that was left was the faint remains of Chara…

Of human.

He decided to cut straight to the point.  “How many times do you intend to toy with us?” he demanded.

Frisk blinked at him.  “I’m sorry?” she asked him.

“You fucking heard me!” Stretch seized the front of her dust coated shirt and pulling her close to him, giving her a close up of his judgement eye.  “Don’t play stupid or dumb.  You know exactly what I said, and know exactly what I mean?  What are we to you?  I know that Chara is deep inside of you, so let me direct that question to her.  She called us friends, called us family, yet she continues to reset and put us through the same torture that she has numerous times before?  What do you, the both of you get out of it?”

Frisk trembled in his arms.  “Papyrus….” she whispered to him in Chara’s voice.  “Papyrus you’re scaring me… I’m sorry… for anything I may have done to anger you…”

“MAY HAVE DONE?” he shook her a little, the little body jerking under his motions.  It reminded him of their bouts in the Judgement Hall.  Her body slamming this way and that, being punctured by bones, her soul shattering time and time again.  A savage glee ran through his body.  The demon deserved to die, die painfully.  For his friends and all the timelines before.  They were never satisfied, were they?  “You know exactly what you have done.  Time and time again.  I’m sick of it.  I’m sick of the games, I’m sick of the knives, and I’m sick of the nightmares.  I don’t know who you think you are, and what gives you the right to dictate our future, to dictate who lives and dies.  Who are you?” Stretch shook her again, snarling.

“Frisk… come on Papyrus… you know who I am…” the human whimpered slightly, hands coming up to grasp at his.

“I do.  You’re nothing but a pathetic human, one who has to fulfil the empty void in your heart with death and destruction.  Does that validate you?  Make you feel important?” His voice took on an angry hiss.  “How small and worthless does one need to be to have to play God to feel anything?  Do you really think that you deserve this power?  That you are something special because of it?  Because of the relationship that you have with the other monsters?  You are nothing.  Not even your title means anything to you.  It just went straight to your head, to overfill that obnoxious ego of yours.  How PATHETIC.  You are nothing here.  NOTHING.  You just happened to be the seventh human, with a soul intact, to make it to the Underground.  Surprise, you have luck!  Lucky number seven…” he spat out.  All his pent-up anger, words he had been holding reset, after reset, they were rolling so easily off of his tongue now.

“How many times have you died trying to make your way through the Underground?  Not even the monsters want you alive or here anymore. And you know what?  I think that you should cut yourself some mercy.  Take your knife and slit your-”

“PAPYRUS!” a familiar, high voice came behind him.  The voice shook slightly, wavered a little bit as if disbelieving all the terrible things that were spewing from his mouth.

Stretch turned around.  Blue…. hands clasped over his mouth, his eyes wide and the eye lights trembling slightly.  His bones shook, from cold, dreaded fear… of his beloved brother.

He had heard the entire thing… of what Frisk wanted him to hear.


End file.
